Media Watch has accused the ABC of over-reaching in its reporting of the Royal Australian Navy's alleged mistreatment of asylum seekers, claiming the national broadcaster "got it wrong" and should admit its mistake.

ABC News has been attacked for airing unverified claims from Indonesian police that asylum seekers were forced by navy personnel to hold hot pipes on boat engines.

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"... Even if the police did back the asylum seekers' claims, there was no way of knowing if they were true," Barry said during last night's program.

"The police and asylum seekers were on Rote Island off West Timor and in nearby Kupang. The incident happened way out in the ocean. And the navy wasn't talking."

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Barry argued that most reporters were in Australia, Bali or Jakarta "trying to wrangle the truth from people who spoke little or no English". "We believe the ABC should have been far more cautious, given the evidence it had, and given it was making such a big call against the navy," he said on air.

An asylum seeker with burns on his hands allegedly caused by Australian Navy personnel. Photo: Supplied

But ABC managing director Mark Scott defended the public broadcaster, telling the PM radio program: "It was an important story to report ... it's clear that the ABC was not judge and jury on that matter. The ABC did not say that these allegations had been proved."

Barry went on to defend the ABC against the "current storm of criticism", including Prime Minister Tony Abbott's claim that it "instinctively takes everyone's side but Australia's" and The Australian newspaper's assertion that it is "driven by the Greens-Left activist complex".